


Leaves Like a Sunset

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Category: Game Grumps, jacksepticeye
Genre: Brian likes pumpkin spice lattes, Fall Equinox, Holly still has her hangups about humans, Jack likes candy corn, Kissing, Multi, Spring Sprite AU, in a glade 'verse, she's trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 04:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12161970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: It didn’t feel like fall yet, and it was making Arin’s brain itch, even though by the calendar it hadn’t technically been fall until today. Still, he had been seeing Halloween candy and pumpkin spiced everything since early July so by the time September had rolled around he had felt like fall had been happening for awhile while also being late somehow.Holly invites Arin to the woods to watch the leaves change.





	Leaves Like a Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @HerbertBest's In A Glade 'verse! Thank you as always for answering my questions and letting me play in your sandbox!
> 
> Thank you to @TheseusInTheMaze for helping me remember a conversation we had forever ago about The Incident With The Cherries.

It didn’t feel like fall yet, and it was making Arin’s brain itch, even though by the calendar it _hadn’t_ technically been fall until today. Still, he had been seeing Halloween candy and pumpkin spiced _everything_ since early July so by the time September had rolled around he had felt like fall had been happening for awhile while _also_ being late somehow. Every morning he had woken up longing for that crispness to the air that meant fall to him, only to feel the summer sun and hear the screaming of cicadas from the trees in the courtyard of his apartment complex. The leaves in his town hadn’t even changed color yet, stubbornly remaining green despite the slow shortening of daylight. That, at least, had an explanation.

Arin shifted his large hiking backpack as he walked, trying in vain to redistribute the weight so that it was a little more comfortable. Sunlight filtered through the green leaves of trees as he walked the forest path, hyper aware of his surroundings. He was welcome in the forest, and Holly herself had been the one who had invited him here today, but he was still nervous. She seemed to only grudgingly tolerate his presence at the best of times, and as much as he wanted to hope that the invitation to watch the changing of the leaves was a step closer towards friendship, he was still wary.

The path opened into a clearing filled with marigolds, the sun shining off the orange and yellow flowers like a sunset. The air was filled with monarch butterflies, and for a moment Arin couldn’t breathe for the beauty of the scene.

“They’re getting ready to migrate,” Arin heard from behind him. The air suddenly smelled like dry desert and distant stars as Arin turned toward the voice, his heart beating just a little faster. Jack was usually fairly benevolent, as far as trickster spirits went, but Arin never felt entirely at ease around him, which maybe was wise.Still, there was something in Jack’s tone that made Arin look at him more closely.

Jack looked nearly human at the moment, or at least he would have to any casual observer. It wasn’t usual to see Jack without some sort of additions, antlers or a rabbit’s long ears or spider eyes. Not for the first time Arin wondered what Jack looked like, _really_ looked like, and hoped he never actually found out. Arin looked into Jack’s eyes, the blue and the green, while Jack looked past him, at the butterflies. For a moment the naked longing in Jack’s gaze was plain as he looked at the winged insects.

“Wish you could go with them?”

That longing look vanished like the sun behind a cloud as Jack’s eyes focused on Arin like he only now noticed the mortal standing there. “Nah, course not. They’re not going anywhere I haven’t been anyway, and I’m not ready to move on yet. Ask me again in a couple hundred years.”

“I think that’d be kind of hard, seeing as humans don’t live that long.” Arin said, and Jack laughed, his eyes flashing.

“Not as hard as all that, living forever.” Jack said, and suddenly he had a jackrabbit’s ears, tall and swiveling as if they were trying to catch every sound in the forest. “It’s easy if you know how. I could tell you, if you give me something.” Suddenly Jack had a coyote’s snout, the fur as gray as the fur of his ears. He breathed deeply, his nose twitching, and he smiled with too many teeth. “You have something in your backpack that smells delicious.”

Arin knew it had to be a trick. Still, he unslung the backpack and set it carefully on the ground, unzipping it and stepping back as Jack began to rifle through it.

“Apple cider doughnuts, boring apple cider that’s not alcoholic, more exciting apple cider that _is_ alcoholic, actual apples that are just apples…”

“The cider mill by my house opened for the season,” Arin said, feeling like he needed to explain, anxiety churning in his stomach. “And Dan told me…. Holly likes apples.”

Jack looked up from his rummaging. “Placating spirits and immortals with alcohol and food _is_ traditional,” he mused. “You’re trying too hard, if you ask me. She’ll come around in her own time, though she’ll appreciate the apples.” He stuck his entire snout into the backpack and Arin thought he heard a muffled “ah ha!” before Jack’s head emerged, a bag of candy corn clutched in his jaws. Jack transferred the bag to his hands and grinned another sharp toothed coyote grin. “Yes! This is exactly what I wanted! Let me have this and I’ll tell you the secret. Deal?”

There was no way Arin was going to learn the secret to immortality in exchange for a bag of candy corn that he had bought at the grocery store on a whim. Still, he couldn’t _not_ go along with the trade. He was only human. “Deal.”

Jack stood up and walked over to Arin, leaning in close, the fur of his muzzle tickling Arin’s cheek, Jack’s hands on his shoulders. It was strangely intimate, and Arin could feel himself blushing as Jack breathed in his ear. The smell of the desert seemed to grow stronger as the light of the forest dimmed. Arin closed his eyes, afraid that if he looked around he would find himself floating in a vast sea of stars, or nothing, or wherever it was that Jack came from.

“The secret to living forever is not to die,” Jack whispered, and then he was gone, only his laughter echoing in the clearing giving any sign that he had ever been there at all.

Arin felt himself blushing even more hotly as he bent down to re-zip his backpack, in embarrassment or anger or something else, he wasn’t entirely sure. It had been a trick, he had known it would be, but that didn’t diminish his feelings.

A shadow fell over him and Arin looked up, feeling his breath catch in his throat for the second time that day at the sight above him. Dan was smiling down at him, light shining through wings that were a mirror to the butterflies that flew through the meadow. There were marigolds in his curly hair, and a few monarch butterflies were alternating between feeding from the flowers and resting on his antlers.

“Hey,” Dan said softly, smiling, offering Arin a hand up. “I didn’t want to interrupt you two.” His eyes twinkled merrily. “He must like you, if he’s telling you truths.”

Arin stood up, trying to imprint the scene into his brain for later drawing, though he wasn’t sure his mortal hands could do Dan justice. “He told me the secret to living forever is not to die.”

“Which is true!” Dan said with a laugh. “But no, I didn’t mean that.” He reached out and caressed Arin’s cheek with his thumb, his touch as light as a butterfly’s wing. “You don’t have to try so hard, with Holly. If she didn’t want you here, you’d know.” Dan leaned over and kissed Arin, and Arin’s mouth filled with the taste of apples and honey and the warmth of the last summer sunshine. It was a kiss that you could get drunk off of.

Dan pulled back slightly with a grin and gestured toward the sky. “See? No rain, no thunder. Everything’s fine. Don’t worry!”

Arin couldn’t help but grin, and if the breeze that suddenly stirred the flowers had a bit of a chill to it, well, it was the first day of autumn after all.

*******

Arin was already regretting the two gallons of cider he had sloshing around in his backpack as he hiked up the hill where Dan said Holly would be waiting. He told himself it would be worth it once they were drinking it, even if it would probably no longer be cold, but that was the nice thing about cider, it tasted great no matter what temperature it was at. Still, the weight meant he was falling behind slightly on the path, and he struggled to keep up.

“Need some help?”

The voice was right next to Arin’s ear. Startled, Arin yelped and lost his footing, overbalanced by the weight of his backpack. He felt a hand reach out and grab his upper arm, stopping his fall before it had even started, holding Arin firmly until he was standing up straight again.

Dan hurried back towards Arin, concern plain on his face. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m all right,” Arin said, before looking over at the person who had both startled and caught him. Arin looked up into Brian’s black eyes and laughed shakily. “Thanks man. Wow, you don’t make any noise when you walk, do you?”

Brian shrugged. “Probably not,” he said, letting go of Arin and stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No worries, “ Arin said, and meant it. “You just wake up?” Brian slept through most of spring and all of summer, just like Dan slept through the winter, though Arin didn’t want to think about that at the moment.

“Mmmhmm,” Brian hummed before yawning again. “More or less.”

“Waking up bears after hibernation is easier than waking up Brian,” Dan said with a chuckle as he leaned over and kissed Brian on the cheek, before walking over to Arin’s other side and taking his hand. “It took me half the morning to get him going, I swear. And I was being very persuasive.”

“Your method of persuasion involved you laying next to me and kissing me into submission, if I recall, which lead to certain other activities which were hardly conducive to getting me out of bed. Also you didn’t bring me coffee.” Brian raised his hand, which was curled around a paper cup bearing the logo of a local coffee shop. “The creation of pumpkin spice lattes is one of the many minor magics humans possess.”

Arin grinned slightly as he began walking again, Brian on one side and Dan on the other. Brian had accepted Arin as a part of Dan’s life easily, with no sense of jealousy as far as Arin could tell, and it made conversation between the three of them simple and natural. Maybe someday it would be like that between him and Holly.

“Wait a second,” Arin said, his brain catching up to what Brian had said. “You got coffee? How? With what money?”

Arin never got his answer, though later he would swing by the coffee shop and leave the cost of a latte in the tip jar. It was just then that the three of them reached the top of the hill and the sight of Holly standing there drove all other thoughts out of his mind.

Holly was beautiful in a way that made Arin think of faerie queens, the kind who steal away humans for their own amusement. She wore a dress that for all the world looked like it was woven from green leaves, and her antlers, sharp as always, rose out of hair that matched the color of her dress. She smiled when she saw Dan and Brian. To her credit, her expression didn’t change when she laid eyes on Arin, but there was a sudden stiffness to her posture, the same as there had been on the day she had invited Arin to be here.

“It’s good to see you,” Holly said to Arin, and the stiffness in her spine seemed to have crept into her tone. “You didn’t have to bring anything.”

“It was no problem,” Arin said automatically. “It was the least I could do.”

Holly nodded, short and sharp, before turning away from them all. “Shall we get started then?” Her tone was like the autumn sun, warm until a breeze blows by.

Arin laid his backpack against a rock, his face burning with shame as if he had been chastised. Had him bringing food offended her somehow? Or was it that same old grudge against humans rising to the surface, and why had she invited him, if that was the case?

Dan took Arin’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Over here,” Dan said, tugging on his arm gently. “This spot has the best view.” Then, more softly. “She’s trying.”

_I wish she’d try a little harder_ , Arin thought with just a touch of bitterness as he followed Dan.

The view really was spectacular. From the top of the hill one could see nearly the entire forest stretched out before them, the town just a line on the horizon. Leaves rustled in the sudden breeze that had sprung up, and for a moment the sound they made reminded Arin more of the ocean than the forest, a sound like foaming surf sliding over the sand. Dan put an arm around Arin’s shoulders and pointed to a far off patch of trees.

It was like watching a drop of colored ink fall into a pool of water, swirling and spreading, leaves changing from green to shades of yellow and red and orange and pink as the magic flowed from tree to tree, slowly at first, then faster and faster, leaves exploding into color like silent fireworks. Arin didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the last leaf in the forest changed color and his breath went out of him in a sigh.

“Oh wow,” Arin said softly. “That was…” He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to gather his thoughts.

Dan chuckled softly. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the leaves change, and every time it’s even more beautiful.” He gave Arin’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll give you a minute. Want me to unpack the cider and food you brought?”

“Um, yeah, please,” Arin said, distracted. “There’s no artificial sweeteners or anything in what I brought, I asked before I bought it this time.” Both Arin and Dan had found out the hard way that Dan’s system reacted… unpleasantly when artificial flavors or colors were involved. It was not a mistake that anyone wanted repeated.

Dan smiled and kissed Arin on the cheek. “Thank you. Be right back.”

Arin stared out at the trees whose leaves had been green almost minutes before. He had gotten used to small magics, you had to when your boyfriend was a forest spirit, but the bigger magics always awed and unsettled him all at once, made him uncertain of his place in a world that had such power in it.

“Which one is your favorite?”

Arin blinked in startled surprise and turned his head. Holly, soundless as always, had come up next to him at some point. Her dress had changed color to a bright red-orange, like the leaves or the sunset, and her hair was the same shade. She held an apple in both hands and her fingers danced along the skin as she played with it.

Arin realized he was staring and looked away, back towards the trees. “You mean leaf color, right, and not a specific tree? Because I don’t know the trees well enough to have a favorite yet. I’m sure you do though. Have a favorite tree I mean.” He felt his face heating up again in embarrassment.

“I meant color, yes.” If Holly was amused by Arin’s awareness or exasperated by it, he couldn’t tell from her tone.

“The pink ones,” Arin said immediately. “When I was a kid, our house had the best tree in the yard. I don’t know if it was oak or maple or what, but the branches were perfect for climbing or hiding in, and every fall the leaves would turn this almost neon pink. The trees outside my apartment all have yellow leaves this time of year, which is pretty if you like yellow, but I miss the pink, it’s just so bright and—” Arin stopped his rambling flow of words so quickly that his teeth nearly clicked together. Holly was nodding the polite nod of someone at a party who would rather be anywhere else.

“You didn’t want me here today, did you? Dan made you invite me.” The question Arin had sworn not to ask fell out of his mouth, hopefully softly enough that Dan wouldn’t hear, and the words hung heavily in the space between himself and Holly. He waited for Holly to get angry and smite his foolish mortal self with a lightning boltor something, and he mentally braced himself.

Holly didn’t look angry. She looked… Arin wasn’t sure, but whatever her expression was it softened a little when she flicked her eyes over to Dan, who was laughing with Brian about something, a cup of cider in one hand.

“Dan doesn’t make anyone do anything,” Holly said softly. “It’s not in his nature, just like it’s not in my nature to forgive easily.” She sighed, playing with the apple in her hands. “He might have pointed out that it wasn’t fair to you to hold you responsible for anything I feel…. another human may have done. So later, when he suggested Iinvite you here today, I said I yes, so he wouldn’t be sad. Not that he would have let me known he was sad, but when he’s sad the plants wilt, and then he gets upset about that, and then he’s even _more_ sad.” Holly turned the full intensity of her gaze on Arin, and it was all he could do to stand his ground and not shrink away from her. “I saw your face, when you were watching the leaves change, so full of awe and… appreciation. It… surprised me, I guess. It’s the same way you look at Dan, did you know that?” She sighed again, running a hand through her leaf colored hair. “What I’m trying to say is… I’m not sorry I said yes, for what it’s worth.”

It wasn’t exactly an apology, but Arin felt it was the closest he was going to get to one, and he felt a little of his anger fade. Things weren’t exactly okay, but they were closer to okay than they had been a minute ago.

“You two look way too serious.”

Arin jumped and and made a startled sound, whipping his head around. Jack was standing behind them, eyes over-bright, grinning a grin that contained entirely too many teeth. “Does anyone in this forest make any _noise_ when they walk?”

“Just you with your big mortal feet!” Jack said with a laugh. He fairly danced over and kissed Holly, who squeaked in surprise. “Be nice to the human, Holly, he traded me delicious things for a secret!”

Holly licked her lips. “Sugar? You gave Jack sugar?” Holly made a sound somewhere between a groan and a laugh. “This is going to be like the cherries all over again. Do you want hummingbirds? Because this is how you mortals got hummingbirds.”

“You helped!” Jack nearly crowed, draping himself over Holly like a blanket. “And the noises you made weren’t noises of complaint, if you recall!”

Arin didn’t know what the two of them were talking about, but a laugh bubbled out of him anyway, a welcome release after all the tension.

“That’s what I wanted to hear!” Jack was suddenly inches from Arin, and when the kiss came, sweet and chaste, it was as fast as a hummingbird’s wings, and then he was gone, grabbing an apple cider doughnut from the bag Arin had brought and sitting on his haunches, eating the doughnut like a squirrel eating a nut.

Dan was laughing as he walked back over to Arin, cup of cider in one hand. “Nice to see everyone getting along,” Dan said, a smile blooming across his face like a flower.

Arin made eye contact with Holly, who gave him a nod. Things still felt a bit awkward and strained between them, but some things took time to change, unlike the leaves in the forest. If Holly was trying to adjust her attitude towards him, the least he could do was meet her halfway and try to be patient with her.

*****************

Arin drove home, his lips tasting like apples and sweetness. The leaves in town, which had been green that morning, were just beginning to change color around the edges. It would be awhile before they reached their full color, but that was all right. Fall was here, really here, and the breeze that blew when he stepped out of the car had just a hint of crispness to it, like fallen leaves.

As Arin walked up the sidewalk to the door of his apartment complex, a flash of bright pink caught his eye. He turned, then stopped and stared at what he was seeing.

The trees in the courtyard, the ones he had told Holly turned yellow in the fall, were now crowned with neon pink leaves, as bright as a sunset. They were beautiful, and Arin knew the painting he’d be working on later would feature them prominently.

“Um, thank you?” Arin said into the wind, feeling a little foolish. He’d have to thank Holly in person, but there was a chance his words would reach her, right?

A hummingbird darted by, its belly bright white against the yellow of the rest of its body, its wings an orange blur. It squeaked cheerfully at Arin before flying away.


End file.
